


To Have And To Cold(Atom)

by everyperfectsummer



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: ColdAtom Secret Santa, I don't know, I'm not really sure what category this is tbh, Len survived the Oculus, M/M, Neither does he, angst plus fluff plus matchmaking plus recovery from traumatic events?, how you ask?, just go with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 09:57:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13233327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyperfectsummer/pseuds/everyperfectsummer
Summary: In response to the prompts "bedsharing" and "mutual pining," I present: matchmaking, Legends style.





	To Have And To Cold(Atom)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [areyouarealmonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyouarealmonster/gifts).



> Hi! I haven’t been able to watch any of this season, so I semi know what’s going on second hand but also haven’t actually seen it so -- it is entirely probable that something in here (besides Len and Stein being alive) contradicts canon, and I apologize in advance. If you'd like to point out something that's contradictory, I welcome feedback and suggestions, but not demands to change. Zari is not included as I have never met her and don’t want to disrespect her character by making her completely OOC. Rip is also not here because I don't know what's up with the time bureau and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.  
> Warnings in the end notes.

Len’s return was met with joy (from those who’d known him), confused enthusiasm (from those who’d joined after he’d died), and stony silence (from Mick). This last part lasted up until they were discussing sleeping arrangements, as Sara explained that Kendra and Len’s old rooms had been given to Nate and Amaya.

 

“We left Rip’s room because we thought he had a higher chance of coming back then you two, and gave the things in your room to your sister,” she told him. “Which means that you’re going to have to either use Rip’s room or double up with someone. Maybe Mick could --”

 

“No,” Mick cut her off. “Room sharing’s only for people who haven’t died on me.”

 

“Mick --” Jax started as Amaya signaled for Jax to stop talking.

 

“I can share!” Ray said, voice overly bright even for him. “Sharing is caring!”

 

“Great!” Sara clapped her hands together. “We’re all exhausted, so why don’t you guys go off to bed now. Nothing like a good night’s sleep to recover from having all your atoms reassembled!”

 

“Sleep’s an essential component of a healthy lifestyle,” Ray agreed, no one pointing out the fact that Ray tended to pull all-nighters on a regular basis. “Let’s go, Len!”

 

Len cast one last unreadable look at Mick before nodding crisply at Ray, and following him down the hall.

 

The others watched the two of them leave, all caught in strained silence until the sound of their footsteps had died away completely. Stein started to speak, and Sara held up a hand, clearly waiting for something.

 

A few seconds later, she lowered it, nodding in Stein’s direction. “They’re out of hearing range now.”

 

Stein turned on Mick, face tense, voice both sympathetic and strained. “Mr. Rory,” he bit off, “I understand that getting back the people you love can be as painful as losing them was, as it brings the memories of losing him back and so on, but Mr. Snart’s return impacts him as well as you. Your pain in this situation is understandable, but I implore you to be cognizant of the fact that he is in pain as well, and inflicting further distress will hurt you both in the long run."

 

“No need to be so smad, professor,” Mick responding, sounding not only calm but slightly amused, a far cry from his earlier anger.

 

Visibly taken aback, Stein said, “I beg your pardon?”

 

“Mad and sad...smad. You’d think a man like you’d have a bigger vocabulary, professor.”

 

Stein sputtered. “That’s not the point!”

 

Mick waved a hand dismissively, wandering over to the fridge and pulling out a tupperware labeled “Ray.” He pulled off the lid, took out the cupcake inside, and stuck the now-empty tupperware back in the fridge.

 

As he went to raise the cupcake to his mouth, Sara grabbed his arm, halting the movement. “Mick. I’ve been on both sides of weird returns from the dead, and I get that you’re hurting, but Stein’s right that he’s hurting too and making it worse isn’t going to help. Speaking as your captain, you’ve got tonight and tomorrow to sulk, but after that you’d better pull your head out of your ass. You hear me?”

 

Mick eyed her hand on his arm, shrugged, and learned forward to take a bite of frosting, before raising it back up and saying, “Len’s got the rep, but I’m a liar and a criminal too, you know. I can make plans.”

 

Her grip on his arm tightened. “Explain.”

 

He grinned, unbothered by the threat of violence in her tone. “Ignore what I said, and think about what happened.”

 

Her eyes widened, a smirk spreading across her face. “Think that counts as interfering in the bet, Rory."

 

“Bet?” Amaya asked, echoed half a beat later by Nate.

 

“In addition to all the other bets amongst our crew,” Sara explained, still looking at Mick, “we had a long running one about when Len and Ray’d get together, and how. Mick appears to have gotten them into bed together the first day back, which counts as interference, which is cheating, by the way.”

 

Sara’s grin widened as she spoke despite the reprimand, Jax’s mouth rounded out into an “oh” of realization, and Stein’s expression changed from sympathetic anger to exasperation. Amaya looked slightly confused, but willing to go with it, while Nate looked  _ incredibly _ confused.

 

“But Ray…” Nate said, trailing off.

 

“You think they’re going to get together just by sharing a bed?” Jax asked, skeptical. “I see where you’re going, but I don’t think one night’s going to cut it.”

 

Mick turned his amused face to Jax. “I don’t think one night’s enough for anything, kid. Including forgiving Len for dying. Think I’m going to need a lot of days of Len groveling, in front of other people. Possibly my new partner, if you catch my drift.” Turning back to Sara, he added, “besides, death ends marriage, why not bets?"

 

There was a beat of silence, and then, in an overly official tone, she responded, “As captain, I’ve changed my mind and will extend your acceptable sulking time. On the condition that you sulk in the presence of both Len and Ray, with Ray there as a mediator, of course.”

 

“Of course,” the rest of the team echoed back, various degrees of amusement in their voices.

 

“If the first bets are over because of Len’s death,” Amaya said, “and bets are starting again, I’d like to place my bet regarding when and how, but knowing what the past bets were for reference.”

 

Gideon’s voice chimed in, “I have a record of past entries for both this and other bets.”

 

“Guess if we’re restarting, I’d like to change my entry,” Jax said. 

 

With that, the team descended into looking over the past list of entries.

 

Meanwhile, in Ray’s room, Ray was attempting to make everything look clean and orderly despite the fact that there were tiny bits of metal strewn all over the ground.

 

“A hufflepuff poster?” Len drawled, posed against the wall. “Didn’t realize you cared for children’s books enough to identify with a house."

 

“Didn’t realize you could figure out it was hufflepuff without reading those  _ children’s books _ ,” Ray retorted, tone light, secretly glad that most of his nerd items consisted of clothing, and was thus in drawers and not on the walls in plain sight. “What house are you, by the way? Gryffindor, for the bravery? Slytherin, for the ambition?”

 

“Ravenclaw,” Len said, still draped on the wall in a manner that looked both natural and impossibly dramatic, “for the  _ actually thinking things through _ .”

 

“Makes sense,” Ray nodded, “your plans are really well thought out, and you do like to learn.”

 

“I hope you realize I’ll be referring to you as ‘Puff’ from now on,” Len said, only for Ray to respond with a shrug.

 

“I’ve had worse nicknames from friends.”

 

Temporarily thrown, Len responded with a hum rather than an actual response, leaving the two of them in silence for a bit, before he said, “So how long before this place is fit for human habitation?”

 

Ray grinned, moving a pile of small metal bits over to a corner, separate from an indistinguishable pile of small metal bits a few feet over. “Just give me two secs and I think there’ll be a clear path to the door!”

 

“You ever tried not storing all your parts on the ground?” 

 

“Ok, I have a  _ system _ ,” Ray sputtered, “give me some credit, just because it’s not obvious doesn’t mean it’s not organized and -- and I think we’re good now,” he finished, eyeing the floor that now had one long strip of relative clearness.

 

At those words, Len peeled himself off the wall, striding forwards and settling onto the bed, like a cat. Ray spent a few seconds marveling at Len’s movements -- the man managed to insert dramatic force into all of his movements, from walking to sitting to learning on things, and while others on the team teased Len for it, Ray had a much softer spot for the inherent drama of it all then he’d like to admit. He then realized - “Len, no shoes on the bed! Or day clothes! You don’t wear dirty things to bed!”

 

Len smirked, hiking his kilt up, albeit only a few inches. “You going to come over here and take them off me?”

 

Ray’s mind stuttered to a half for a brief moment before he said, “No, I’m going to go brush my teeth because dental hygiene is important, and you’re going to take them off yourself because regular hygiene is important too!” With that, he left the room, heading towards the bathroom, only to realize that he’d left his toothbrush inside. He returned, grabbed his toothbrush, and then left with a much less dramatic exit than before, Len smirking widely all the while.

 

As soon as the door shut, Len’s smirk dropped, face turning pained. He’d died. He’d died, and Mick hated him now, and Palmer still cared but he cared because he cared about everyone, not because Len was special (even though he wanted to be). Great.

 

With a heartfelt sigh, he pulled off his boots, and pulled the sheets over himself, “day clothes” and all. By the time Ray returned, he’d already fallen asleep.

 

Over the next few “days” -- or rather, 24 hour cycles aboard the ship that had long since fallen out of corresponding to time cycles on Earth --, they fell into a pattern, with Len seeking out Mick while trying to pretend he was just wandering throughout the ship as he pleased, Mick responding with either angry silence or short, furious sentences, and Ray desperately trying to play peacemaker between them.

 

Or, viewed from another perspective, Mick trying to matchmake Ray and Len while they both pined over each other and viewed it as unrequited.

 

The rest of the team was trying to stay out of the way and not interfere, while staying close enough to overhear what was going down.

 

The first real day back, Len wandered into the rec room to see Mick and Nate watching Star Trek.

 

“Never thought we’d get you to the nerd side,” he said, trying to sound normal instead of upset.

 

“You did fuckall,” Mick responded, eyes not leaving the screen, “only watched to keep up with Haircut. He’s got the same taste as you do, in nerd stuff.”

 

“Sounds like a man after my own heart,” Len said, leaving the perfect opportunity for Nate to chime in.

 

“He is! He’s got a lot of heart. And a lot of, you know, similar heart to you! With the whole jewish bi nerds who’ve been Mick’s partners thing going on. You know. Lots of similarities, there, between you and my bro.”

 

Amaya and Jax, hiding just outside the door, winced, and Nate winced too as soon as he heard Len’s tone. “I’m pan,” he said, voice sharp and cold, “and I’m certainly not similar to anyone who could be called a ‘bro.’”

 

“No, no, of course not!” Nate said, “I just meant, you know, there’s common ground there, room for friendship, more than friendship, whatever --” he ended up speaking to empty air as Len left the room, somehow managing to make his parka swirl as he turned and left. Amaya and Jax started walking down the hall, trying to look as inconspicuous and innocuous and not-eavesdropping as possible.

 

“Pretty,” Mick said, voice shooting for long-suffering, but hitting amused instead.

 

“Stop helping?” Nate ventured.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Further attempts proceeded much the same way, with Mick and the rest of the team trying to point out just how much the two had in common, and Mick trying to force the two to spend time together.

 

Mick’s first play of getting them to share a room, however, was doing the most work towards changing their relationship.

 

Neither of them slept particularly well, and sharing a bed didn’t help matters, both of them waking up to the other’s nightmares, as well as the other elbowing them in the face at 3 am.

 

Len had never been a sound sleeper, had had PTSD for years that he couldn’t do much to treat as he was still living life that required him to be alert all hours of the day, but the Oculus had made it worse. For all that he’d risked life and limb throughout the years, all that he’d come close to dying time and time again, actually dying was...something else. Something neither he nor his subconscious could handle.

 

Ray’d never actually died, weird future timeline doubles aside, but he still had his fair share of PTSD-induced nightmares as well. 

 

The first night, they tried to ignore it, but on the second, Len woke up with a muted scream in his throat to Ray gently shaking him awake, whispering reassurances in his ears. “It’s ok, it’s ok, you were dreaming, you’re ok, it’s ok...”

 

Len tried to listen to the stream of words, trying to slow his breathing, his heartbeat.

 

“Thanks, Raymond,” he said, after nearly a full minute of this. “For waking me up.”

 

“It’s ‘kay,” Ray reassured him, “Kendra and I used to have to wake each other up a lot for nightmares, it happens, and it’s ok. Do you want to talk about it, or?”

 

“If you tell me about your nightmare last night,” Len offered, confident that Ray wouldn’t take him up on it.

 

“Sure,” Ray said, “if you don’t mind hearing…?”

 

Len considered his options, and decided on the kinder one. “Don’t mind at all, Puff.”

 

“Well, it’s -- it started with Anna dying, again, only this time it’s not just Anna, it’s her and everyone else I know, only it’s just one body, but it changes and it’s everyone, all of them dying and it’s my fault and just...yeah.” Ray finished. “What about the one you just had?”

 

“Me, freezing my hand off, only not ‘cause of Mick but ‘cause of dad.” He’s not sure why he just said that, why he just told the truth, why he’s trusting Ray enough to tell him this, but he puts it down to the residual tiredness, to being on a team and falsely conflating “trust him with my life” with “trust him with my secrets”, to the darkness that prevented him from seeing Ray’s face and thinking better of it.

 

Whichever of these is was, they all held true well into the following weeks, Ray and Len confiding secrets in each other that they’d never speak in the light of day, until one night when Ray was recounting a nightmare about “all the people I’ve loved dying at our wedding, both of us at the altar and then they die, and it’s everyone I’ve wanted to marry - Anna, Felicity, Kendra, you, Tommy -- that’s Tommy Merlyn, Ollie’s best friend and my friend and unrequited love crush person though high school --”

 

“Did you just include me on that list?” Len said, hesitant, because hearing your crush say they want to marry you is wonderful but also terrifying and dying hadn’t done anything to make him less afraid, no matter what the rest of the team thought about his self preservation instincts.

 

“Shi-shoot,” Ray said, voice panicked, “We can ignore that, pretend I didn’t say that, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable because of my feelings --”

 

Len ignored a golden opportunity to tease Ray for his views on swear words, and homed in on the important thing. “Your feelings being?”

 

“...I may be a little in love with you? Which -- I know that I have been creepy in the past in my romantic relationships, and I want you to know that I will not be creepy, become your employer -- not that you have an employer, or if you do, it’s Sara, and I’m not taking over for her --”

 

“So you’re romantically interested in me?” Len said, and forestalling the inevitable word rush, added, “Yes or no?”

 

“Yes,” Ray said after a few beats of silence. “Not planning on us getting married next week or anything, or ever even, but I do care about you and want to take you out to dinner and have a relationship and get married down the line and I may have picked out flower arrangements already. Possibly.”

 

Len smiled, hoping that Ray could hear it in his voice. “Well, Puff, how ‘bout we start with a date and I’ll think about the marriage thing after that?”

 

“That really is an awful nickname,” Ray said with a huff of laughter, unable to disguise his delight with Len’s answer.

 

“You can tell me all about better nicknames on our date.” Len rejoined, and it took several more hours of banter for either of them to get to sleep.

 

It took awhile for them to be out to the crew, because although both of them were comfortable with being out as bi and pan, respectively, they were not comfortable with sharing a fledgling relationship with a group of people they were trapped in a confined space with, each afraid that the slightest outside push could lead it to crumble.

 

Months later, long after Mick had grudgingly “forgiven” Len, the two decided to come clean with their relationship in an unambiguous way that played to both of their dramatic streaks. In other words, they came into breakfast one morning, kissed each other in front of the entire team, breaking away only when the need for oxygen became fairly pressing.

 

They were greeted, not with surprise, but with Mick saying loudly, “sounds like one of us won the bet.”

 

They turned towards the others, asking “What bet?” in near unison, albeit in vastly different tones of voice.

 

“The bet on when you’d get together that prompted Mick to make sure you lovelies had to share a bed,” Sara said innocently, as though unaware of their probable reactions.

 

There was complete silence for several seconds.

 

“Mick,” Len said flatly, breaking the silence with a voice somehow both eerily calm and full of menace, “I’m going to murder you.”

 

Mick grinned back, even as everyone else took an instinctive step back. “Long as I’m still invited to the wedding.”

 

“I’d like you to be both of our best man!” Ray said, ignoring Len’s posturing. “And if you want to just be Len’s that’s fine, you guys have much more of a history, but our partnership has meant a lot to me and I want you to know that.”

 

“I’m not best man?” Nate said in a hurt tone that was half feigned, half actually hurt.

 

“Dude,” Ray said, voice sincere, “Our friendship means a lot to me as well, which is why I want you to be my man of honor.”

 

“Just to be clear,” Amaya said, “a wedding is on the table?”

 

Sara smiled from over in the corner. “Ray’s that kind of guy.”

 

“Are you, though?” Jax said, addressing Len, “because shared expectations and clear communication about those expectations are the bedrock of a successful relationship.”

 

Len raised an eyebrow. “You in a long-term relationship I don’t know about, kid?”

 

“He’s privy to my extensive years of experience,” Stein said, “knowing almost first hand what makes a relationship work.”

 

Len opened his mouth to make a sarcastic comment regarding Stein’s marriage when Ray said, “Does a winter wedding sound good to you, Len? For the ice aesthetic? Or a spring wedding, for the flowers?” 

 

Len’s face turned from sardonic to soft. “I’m open to a wedding anytime, long as you’re the groom.”

 

There was a simultaneous “awww” noise from half the team, before Stein said, “As you’re both jewish, I’m assuming a jewish wedding, in which case as a rabbi there are some dates I’d recommend avoiding --”

 

“Must you foil my one attempt at romance by interpreting my statements literally?” Len said, hand clasped to chest and sounding put upon, all belied by the amused look on his face.

 

“Wait, does that mean -- not to overstep or presume but, could you officiate our wedding?” Ray said, eyes bright with emotion as he looked pleadingly at Stein.

 

Stein’s eyes filled with emotion as well, looking back at Ray. “If your fiance would like me to, I would be delighted.”

 

Everyone looked at Len, who nodded, and said, “but not a wedding that doesn’t include my sister.”

 

“I’d like to invite Sydney, too,” Ray said, “Not that we’re as close as you or Lisa, but -- I hate him but I love him too, you know? Also we should invite team arrow, and team flash, and your rogues, too, if they want to come, and --”

 

“Gideon?” Sara said, eyes on the pair, “let’s chart a course to 2017, and, as the poets say, help them get the rest of their lives started as soon as possible.”

 

“Of course, Captain Lance,” Gideon responded.

 

“Isn’t that just from when Harry met Sally?” Jax said, only for Sara to respond with:

 

“You’re the one who recognized it!”

 

“And we’ll find a way for Gideon to come!” Ray added, before Len grabbed his arm and started leading him away from the group.

 

“Wait, where are they going?” Nate said, “we need to plan the wedding!”

 

“ _ We _ need to plan the wedding night!” Len rejoined as he and Ray walked down the hallway, Ray coming to a sudden half midway through talking about a guest list that incorporated several dozen people and counting.

 

“Right!” Ray said, nodding, “we’ll go do that!”

 

Nate started after them, visibly bemused. “But why just the night and not the whole wedding?”

 

There was awkward silence for several moments before Jax said, “you know what? I’m not explaining.”

 

Meanwhile, down the hall, Ray had stopped walking, tugging Len’s hand gently until he stopped as well.

 

“I -- I never did formally ask you to marry me,” he said, “just about when, and everyone went with it, but -- you don’t have to marry me because of peer pressure, or anything, I love you wedding or no, ok? I know I don’t always see things the way my allistic lovers do and don’t want to be unclear about things.”

 

Len’s voice was uncharacteristically serious when lifted his free hand -- his  _ new  _ hand -- to Ray’s face. “You know how I said, way back when, that’d I’d think about this wedding thing after a date?”

 

Ray nodded, Len’s fingers still soft on his cheek.

 

“Well, we’ve yet to have non-heroics-involved date, but I’ve still thought about it. And I know criminals tend to be thought of as love ‘em and leave ‘em types, but I care about permanence when I can get it, and I want that with you. ‘Til death do us part, Puff.”

 

Ray’s face lights up with smile, maybe at the sentiment, maybe at the awful nickname, and he says, “death might end our marriage, legally, but it’s not going to end my loving you.”

 

“Given my history, it’s entirely possibly it won’t end me loving you either,” Len said, smile less wide but eyes just as alight, as he used his grip on Ray’s face to pull them towards each other, into a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Potential content warnings: swearing, references to past character death, incompatibility with the past season, vague allusions to sexual activity, sappiness.  
> Prompts: this is responding to the “bed sharing” and “mutual pining” prompts, with a side of as many of the must-haves as I could fit in (happy ending, them being jewish, their hogwarts house affiliations, a nickname for Ray, them both being secure in their sexualities, inclusion of neurodivergence [Ray's autistic here], and Len wearing a kilt). That being said, there's so much stuff in here that no one thing feels like it's enough of the focus for me to justify tagging it. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts about what/how to tag this!  
> Tried to make them both have PTSD, which I have first hand experience with, having Ray be autistic, which we're not sure if I am or not so for accurate writing purposes let's go with not, and have both be Jewish, which I don't have first hand experience with. Stuff was run by friends who do, so any errors not here are thanks to them, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t errors and if there's something you'd like me to change, please let me know.  
> PS: while Mick’s strategy works, faking anger at your traumatized friend is not a great matchmaking strategy. As with many things the Legends do, please don’t try at home. Just because it works doesn't mean it's actually a good idea.  
> PPS: if I forgot to warn for anything please let me know!


End file.
